Volume 4, No. 3, September 1, 2004NEW ECONOMY INFORMATION SERVICE E-BULLETIN |
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In this issue:
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Skills Needs Stir National Media Attention The challenge of strengthening the skills of the American workforce has begun to draw increasing attention in the media. A recent spate of articles poses some provocative challenges to those who consider the American labor movement a creature of the bottom tier of an emergent two-tier economy. These articles also suggest a path unionism could take that might yield impressive rewards both in enhanced membership appeal and in greater public respect. We devote this full issue of the NEIS Bulletin to this eruption of interest. It has been remarked (by the Economic Policy Institute'a David Kusnet) that the American labor movement is among the most important providers of training and education in this country. Large numbers of workers move through our joint apprenticeship programs, and many others participate in educational activities sponsored by unions or funded through collective bargaining agreements. But the union contribution to the skills and ethos that makes the US economy the world's most productive is not widely acknowledged.
Retailers Neglect Training
"No one really knows how much business is lost when undertrained and unprepared employees turn a simple transaction into too much trouble. But it has to be a lot," Pressler observes. She quotes a marketing consultant's surprise that store owners "put all this money into advertising, but they don't build relationships by actively trying to help. It's totally insane." This is one of several feature stories have appeared in the in the National Media over the past few weeks that describe the challenge the American Economy faces in meeting shortages of skilled and trained workers in key fields. The discussion suggests a possibly important role for trade unionists and educators in helping to meet the increasingly recognized need for building the capabilities of our work force. Some of the commentators note that the growing possibility of finding better trained workers abroad is one of the factors that contributes to the outsourcing of jobs.
Blue Collar Now Takes Advanced Skills The Washington Post's Nell Henderson looks at the labor market through a broader lens than the retail sector and finds “skilled labor in high demand” in areas such as manufacturing, where technical skills and educational background might once have been considered a kind of over-qualification. The notion that the American economy is being transformed into a neatly divided two-tier labor market with grunt-work and burger flippers on the blue-collar bottom and college-track workers with technical and cognitive skills on the higher rungs may not be quite the way it really turns out. Even what still may be considered lower level jobs are starting to require higher levels of competence, and Henderson offers some striking examples that might give pause to those in the labor movement who pitch its appeal to those with only unskilled jobs. “High school grads are not ready for prime time in modern manufacturing,” reports an executive of Bison Gear and Engineering Corp. in Illinois. “Automatic flush toilets in public restrooms require maintenance of electronic systems,” Henderson explains. “Janitors have traded in their mops and buckets for more complicated machines and need basic math to dilute industrial chemicals properly.” “The pressure of the global economy has made it impossible to have ordinary workers anymore,” explains Phyllis Eisen of the National Association of Manufacturers. “Businesses can't afford it. They can't afford the defects, the waste of time.” Henderson notes that government-supported job training has been cut in recent years, but appears again to be attracting support.
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Hot Market for Precision Machinists The Wall Street Journal's Timothy Aeppel [August 17, 2004; Page A1] reports on the intense demand that has developed for 'Swiss-Style Machinists Doing Ultra-Precise Tasks' such as making watch-like gears and shafts, or the titanium screws used to knit bones, or finely-machined roller balls for pens. As Aeppel describes it “Two years ago, Robert Schrader got a call from a recruiter trying to lure him from his job in New Hampshire to opportunities as far away as Florida. He eventually took a new position in Massachusetts, after he had negotiated a raise, an expense-paid move and better health coverage. Since then, his old boss in New Hampshire has tried to woo him back. Mr. Schrader isn't a hotshot young executive with a Harvard MBA. He's a factory worker.” ”That group in recent times has been associated more with unemployment lines than with the corporate recruiting circuit. But Mr. Schrader isn't your average blue-collar worker. He is a 'Swiss-style' machinist, a specialty developed more than a century ago to make tiny, very precise gears and shafts for the European watch industry.“ ”It takes years of on-the-job training to become a skilled Swiss-style machinist, and few young people are entering the trade,” reports Aeppel. “The steady flow of skilled immigrants who once filled many top craftsman jobs has dried up. The result is that at a time when many U.S. industrial jobs have been lost to low-cost countries such as China, American factories have a shortage of certain highly skilled workers. Other hot factory skills include some types of specialty welding and workers adept at programming the latest computerized production machinery. Mr. Schrader and others like him are part of a new working-class elite in such demand that some employers are even offering signing bonuses of a few thousand dollars.” ”The shortage comes at a bad time for U.S. manufacturers, who are finally seeing an upswing in business. If they can't find the skilled workers they need, many companies could ultimately find it tougher to remain players in globally competitive markets.” "It's clear that a hot emerging issue for manufacturing is skilled-worker shortages," Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, told Aeppel. He says the problem will worsen in coming years as baby boomers retire.” ”Boston Centerless Inc. in Woburn, Mass., a 106-employee maker of highly precise metal parts for other manufacturers, used recruiters to hire five Swiss-style machinists this year. It still needs at least two more. The company pays current workers bounties of up to $500 a head for referrals that lead to new hires. The most skilled new hires earn up to $25 an hour.” ”For years, the machining business drew on European immigrants trained in an apprenticeship system that developed specialty factory workers. But in recent decades, the wage differential that made the U.S. so attractive has vanished.” ”Meanwhile,” as Aeppel explains, “U.S. apprenticeship programs have dwindled as the large American companies that once provided the bulk of such training have cut back to save money and now outsource some of the work.”
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Public Strategies Needed to Address Training Dilemma
As the Workforce Development Task Force of the NEIS and the Albert Shanker Institute noted in its recent report, individual companies are understandably hesitant to make the kinds of large and long-term investments required to develop a sizeable workforce with highly competitive skills. There is too much risk that, given the high demand for such workers, those one company invests in will jump ship to go work for someone else. So what we face is a public policy challenge, one that calls for strategic partnerships among business, labor, educators and government. Perhaps this challenge will eventually force its way into this year's election debates. Pennsylvania is a critical swing state in this year's election, and last Sunday'sNew York Times reported a trend in Pennsylvania that is having huge consequences for many businesses, unions and communities. In a piece entitled “Coming Soon: The Vanishing Work Force” Eduardo Porter reports “ 'A silent crisis threatens the prosperity of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania,' warned a report done two years ago by the Center for Competitive Workforce Development at Duquesne University. 'A declining and aging population places at risk the stability of the region's work force and opportunities for economic progress.' What is happening in Pittsburgh, Porter notes, “appears to be an early installment of a demographic drama unfolding across the nation….” “When boomers start exiting the work force--as they will in droves starting around 2008–they will leave a big demographic hole behind them.” One response some are promoting is to induce or pressure older workers to delay their retirements. Others are looking for ways to shift more of their companies' work abroad. Another reaction is seen at Duquesne Light, Pittsburgh's electric utility, which Porter says may lose as many of half its line and repair workers to retirement by the end of this decade. Duquesne Light, Porter notes, has recently “set up a two-year program at Allegheny County Community College to train new line workers.” This is taking the long view, because older workers may not stay, and younger workers are often not as skilled and productive. The NEIS/Shanker Institute Proposal As the NEIS/Shanker Institute Task Force contends, all the concerns noted here point to one need: “a national campaign to improve the skills and professionalism of the American workforce.” Such a campaign can only succeed when it brings together labor, business, government and community leadership in learning partnerships that can engage all affected in what will have to be a culture shift that transforms negative attitudes toward education and training and builds acceptance for lifelong learning and greater involvement by incumbent members of the workforce.
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About NEIS
This E-Bulletin is published by the New Economy Information Service (NEIS), a project of the Foundation for Democratic Education. NEIS provides information and reviews debate on the impact globalization and technological change has on democracy at home and abroad. Current interest focuses on how American workers can be equipped with the skills they need for decent employment and economic security, and on how the globalization of the economy and the expansion of democracy can strengthen one another.
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